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In:The Diachrony of Word Class Peripheries
Edited by Tanja Ackermann and Christian Zimmer
[Studies in Language Companion Series 238] 2025
► pp. 206–249

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Chapter 9
Iconic words as a peripheral (lexical) group

A diachronic approach

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Published online: 7 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.238.09fla
Abstract
This chapter is a discussion on a marginal (lexical) group of words — iconic words. “Iconic words” (also “imitative words”) is a term which unites a wide array of lexemes on the periphery of the language system — interjections, onomatopoeic words, ideophones, nursery words, phonaesthemic words, rhyming formations. All of them have one aspect in common — their form roughly resembles their meaning. Iconicity (relationship of similarity) is opposed to arbitrariness, a conventional connection between form and meaning. It also goes beyond singular words — form-meaning associations are encountered in poetry as well as by means of psycholinguistic experiments and by study of language corpora. Iconic words are a very diverse group; they vary considerably according to different parameters even within one language. These parameters are degree of iconicity, language system integration, markedness, semantics, means of imitation, etc. On the one hand, they are not a purely lexical group (as, e.g., kinship terms or colour words), although many (but not all) of them can be collectively referred to as ‘words of sensory imagery’. On the other hand, iconic words do not always constitute a separate grammatical class (although ideophones and onomatopoeias are sometimes differentiated from other parts of speech); many of them function as nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc. This chapter discusses differences and similarities between various categories of iconic words, and — what is important — sets apart differences in terminology which arise through differences in linguistic traditions and differences in these categories themselves. Diachronic approach introduced in this chapter explains some of these categorial differences through de-iconization, a process of iconicity loss caused by language change. The indicated difficulties in classification and categorisation of iconic words can be, thus, to some extend, overcome by viewing them as a dynamic, developing system.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Lost in definition: What are iconic words?
    • 2.1Onomatopoeic words
      • Parts of speech
      • Examples
    • 2.2Ideophones
      • Parts of speech
      • Examples
    • 2.3Iconic words which depict sensory imagery other than sound but are not marked (sound symbolic, mimetic, kinaesthetic words)
      • Examples
      • Parts of speech
    • 2.4Phonaesthemic words (Phonaesthesia)
      • Examples
      • Parts of speech
    • 2.5Nursery words, rhyming formations, exclamatory and appellative interjections
      • Nursery words
      • Rhyming formations, ablaut and rhyme combinations
      • Exclamatory and appellative interjections
    • 2.6Beyond the word: Sound symbolism (bouba-kiki effect) and iconicity in poetry
    • 2.7Number of iconic words and their position on the periphery of language
      • Inclusion of words from different subclasses
      • Iconic words in different strata of language (dialects and sociolects)
      • Form variation
      • Iconic words and language change
      • Iconic words as different parts of speech
  • 3.Overlaps between different categories of iconic words
    • 3.1Linguistic traditions and overlaps in terminology
      • 3.1.1Iconic words in different linguistic traditions
      • 3.1.2Iconic words in lexicography
    • 3.2Overlaps between different categories of iconic words
      • 3.2.1Ideophones and onomatopoeic words
      • 3.2.2Ideophones and sound symbolic (mimetic, kinaesthetic) words
      • 3.2.3Onomatopoeic and sound symbolic (mimetic, kinaesthetic) words
      • 3.2.4Phonaesthemic words and other categories of iconic words
      • 3.2.5Sound symbolism (bouba-kiki-like effect) and iconic words
  • 4.Diachronic approach to language iconicity
    • 4.1Iconicity and imitative function of phonotypes
    • 4.2Iconicity and language change
      • Meaning changes
      • Form changes
    • 4.3De-iconization of imitative words
      • Words at SD-1
      • Words at SD-2
      • Words at SD-3
      • Words at SD-4
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
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